All questions answered

AS vital as having scoring forwards on fire up front is, having a natural born leader of men and a tremendous hurler to boot in the heart of your defence is even more important and in John Henderson Bray Emmets have one of the very best in the county.

His performance on Sunday was immense, plucking ball from the heavens, winning ball in the dirt, throwing body and soul on the line and answering any questions ever asked about either him or his beloved Bray Emmets team.

As always, the Bray and Wicklow star was modest and reserved after the final whistle.

‘We had a great start. We spoke about it all week, if we got the wind, we’d try build a bit of lead. In fairness, the forwards have been looking sharp the last few weeks, especially in training, trying to mark them is difficult, and you’re hoping that they turn up on the big day and, in fairness to them today, they were excellent, and they were just so sharp,’ he said.

We were always going to need a bit of a cushion against Glenealy.

‘You saw just after half-time, they’re an unbelievable team, they’ve won so many championships over the years.

‘We knew they were going to come at us, and they had 1-1 rattled off in a few minutes and it looked hairy for a second, but we stuck to what we were told during the week by Paul, we kicked on, we didn’t sit back with the lead we had, we tried to get a few scores ourselves and that was massive, and once we kept them at arm’s length throughout the game that was massive. Delighted as well,’ he added.

It was a long winter for Bray Emmets after last year’s semi-final defeat, but the disappointment inspired a fresh zeal and drive in the team and with the coming of age of some young stars the scene was set for a successful year.

‘Last year, we had a lot of questions to answer among ourselves over the winter.

‘We were hugely disappointed here last year. We didn’t perform against Carnew, but in fairness we weren’t let perform, either.

‘And one thing we learned that day, the work rate that day from Carnew was massive, and we knew we were going to have to replicate something like that to beat Glenealy today.

‘And we’d often criticise the forwards ourselves for not working, today I couldn’t fault them to a man.

‘Two young lads, Ronan McMahon and Ben McCormack, two lads came in and took their chance and they worked their socks off for the team. Cian Lohan, another young lad, stepped up to the plate and has just looked at home.

‘Eoin (McCormack) is one of the best young hurlers in the county. He’s such a wristy hurler.

‘When a game opens up there’s no better man you want with a ball going through. He came in today and made a difference.

‘Obviously, he was disappointed not to make the starting 15 but he was the first man over to shake Ronan McMahon’s hand when he got in.

‘That’s what we’ve tried to build this year. In fairness to Paul Carley, I can’t speak highly enough of him, himself, Olan (Savage, trainer) and the whole backroom team, we said we’d have no excuses and work our absolute hearts out and, in fairness, today it came good for us.

‘That’s what wins championships (unity). Trying to beat Glenealy any day is difficult. You have the likes of ‘Bosco’, Leighton, Gary Byrne, those guys have given massive service to Wicklow hurling, not just Glenealy. We knew we had to turn up today and thankfully we did,’ he added.

John’s and Bray’s attention now turns to Leinster where they take on the Dublin Intermediate champions in a few weeks’ time.

‘It’s been a disappointing couple of years. We had questions to ask.

‘For myself, the man of the match is the icing on the cake, it’s all about the winner’s medal at the end of the day.

‘We’re going to enjoy the next couple of days and then get back down to work and try give Leinster a lash. We kind of feel that the last time we were in it we let it slip against Celbridge, so we’ll take it one step at a time and see where it goes,’ he added.